Archive for October, 2008

This morning, I walked out of the apartment (and down four flights of stairs and half way across the parking lot before it hit me) without my BlackBerry. SIGH.

I’m legendary for being, well … absentminded. It’s amazing to me that I can go into the Shoppers and have to think about where I put the car, but I can tell you the intricate plot details of the episode of Mr. Belvedere where Kevin starts drinking and the family has to intervene and there’s touching soft music at the end.

So as I sit here at work in the middle of a big task list, it won’t surprise those who know me that this song starts playing in my head:

Yes. That’s from Square One Television. The children’s show about … math. I could also sing to you the songs for “8 Percent of My Love,” “The Mathematics of Love” and “Nine Nine Nine.” My sister constantly finds herself in utter amazement at the mundane details I can recall on command. She calls at least once a week to ask me who sings what, or what TV show someone was on.

But as I get things ready to walk out, it’s occurring to me that I’m not sure where my Metro card is and I may have forgotten to pay the cable bill.

I’ve noticed this disturbing trend lately of what seems to be people taking more and more luggage to work. I have a backpack and a purse and that’s too much for me some days, but as I rode into town this morning, the guy who got on the train at College Park sat down beside me (in a business suit) with what looked very similar to what you see above. I can’t imagine having to carry that much stuff around. I really don’t get it. And it’s not just him. I’m seeing it everywhere now. It’s almost as if I’m vastly uncool that I’m NOT carrying around 15 pounds of luggage to go to work.

This may be the most specific search term used to find my blog … ever.

Well, in case you didn’t find what you were looking for, you can download the podcast (as soon as I put it up) RIGHT HERE. Or, if you’re feeling particularly ambitious, just go ahead and visit either our show’s home page or the home page for Radio 360 Talk. What you looked for in Google just gave you a list of categories for my blog (obviously) and one of the press releases announcing that the station carries the Computer Outlook Radio Talk Show.

Or, you could just e-mail me and ask about what you’re looking for. Either way. Your BlackBerry is capable of it.

I found this letter to the publisher on PutnamLive.com, which is one of my favorite Web sites in the world. It’s based in Hurricane, W.Va., and published by a guy who routinely inserts snide, pointless commentary into his pee-your-pants funny “news” stories (namely against his political “enemies” or anyone he feels has wronged him, and it appears, well, that EVERYBODY has wronged him). It’s not really credible. It’s more entertaining than anything. If you’re in need of a pick-me-up, I highly recommend his questionably-mentally-stable blog about how the city built a Wal-Mart next to his house. (My favorite passage ever is this: A note to politicians: The next time I am awakened at 3:33 a.m. I will consider CALLING YOU TO EXERCISE MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS TO REDRESS MY GOVERNMENT FOR GRIEVANCES… And the First Amendment doesn’t preclude a call at 3:33 a.m. If you continue to allow my family to be disrupted at 3:33 a.m., I will consider calling you THEN and complain. If you don’t like that, at least I am warning you IN WRITING, IN ADVANCE!)

Whaaa? My Constitution must be broken.

(Note to publisher in case you see this and get some bright idea to try to sue me: I have two cats, a busted up Toyota Camry and some broken lawn furniture. That’s about all you’d get out of me. It wouldn’t be worth your time. It isn’t like I’ve got thousands of readers. And, hey, it’s you who puts it out there for the world to read, right?)

So, I saw this letter to the publisher about the mayor of Hurricane, who is one of the publisher’s “enemies” so naturally, it gets published without any efforts to try to track down the mayor’s side. However, because of the absolute trainwreck of spelling and grammar, I can’t really figure out what she’s saying. I turn to you …

Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards Is A Disgrace
I am ashamed to say that he calls himself the mayor, what a disgrace. This man came flying around the front of Arby’s trying to beat me to the drive thru and came to close for comfort, if I had not slammed on the break, we would have not been so lucky, Saturday Oct. 18th afternoon. I paid no more attention to the idiot until he whipped around the other car that just placed his order and parked caddie corner in front of him. The elderly gentlemen honked his horn (in his head to say move on or what are you doing) But this rude and crude and not so big as he thinks man jumps out of his black shiny Suburban all red face and shouting to this elderly gentlemen who was the driver he jump in front of asking him to step out of the car for a fight, HE WAS THE MAYOR, he said proudly, come on get out here let’s fight. The younger gentlemen that was a passenger stepped out, face to face, nose to nose the big brave mayor only continue to shout, “I’m the mayor, I can have you arrested, You want me to call the cops, I’m the mayor you know, I can do that.” The younger gentleman just stood there face to face saying “Come on, go ahead.”

I was so ashamed of that man being our mayor, I stuck my head out the window and said “If you call the cops on him you better call the cops on me, because you are a disgrace to the city, and you should be ashamed.” All I got was a dirty look.

His wife started howling for him to get back in the car, but he paid no attention to her either, imagine that! Finally his wife hopped out of the vehicle and continually tried to coax him back in the vehicle, which she did succeed.

All this turned out to be was that Arby’s left a few things out of his order. Wow that happens all the time to people, the best thing to do is to park the car walk inside and say excuse me but……… I can’t even imagine what he did or say to that poor young girl at the drive thru.

I’ve been told after telling this story to a few people I know, I have come to find out he’s done this quite a few times at other places. This needs to be published for all to see and then maybe he’ll change his way or best yet he needs to be put out of that position.

Tara Hicks
Hurricane

My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.

This shows … you hate complainers. I didn’t pick that one, though. I picked “I talk on the phone so everybody can hear me.” I worked with a guy like that a few jobs back. He had an unbalanced wife and she’d call him in the mornings on her way to work, inevitably in the throes of some giant crisis, and he’d have to spend 20 minutes assuaging her concerns about her body shape, beauty, fitness to parent animals, etc. It was really distracting and strange. Just … strange.

It’s spooooooooky Sunday here at the Radio Ranch, so that means we’ll kick off tonight’s edition of Happy Hour — The Show That Never Ends by talking about Halloween. We’ll hit on a variety of Halloween-themed topics from the cheap ass costumes we had as a kid to when did this become a holiday for grownups? And because I’m a communist and I hate Halloween, this should be fun.

Also, we’re going to talk about Epic Failure Ashley Todd, but you may better know her as the absolute IDIOT who kicked her own ass and carved a backwards B on her grill all in the name of being a good Republican. There may be some “Tips for Kicking Your Own Ass” included. You’ll have to tune in to see.

We’ll follow that up with a look at a lawsuit in Tennessee involving Starbucks, hot cups and how NOT to drive while consuming hot liquids.

Also, negative feedback on eBay could get you sued for libel. Voicemail messages left for people who sell on Craigslist are just funny.

Drinkers are just happy, smokers are just coping.

A full roundup of news, your calls, and a whole lot more!

The number to join in is (956) 790-8255, or you can send us a message through the chatterbox on the page or hang out in our chatroom on our Web site. It’s all live tonight at 8 p.m. at Radio360Talk.com. We hope to see you there!

(Also — make sure to stick around AFTER the show for this week’s brand new edition of The Setlist, hosted by Paige! The show will feature some great music from the best in indie artists she can find. You won’t want to miss it!!)

Well, you know, I figure it’s been long enough for someone to try jackpot justice with this kind of case again. It’s been about 14 years since Stella cashed in on her 49 cent cup of coffee from McDonald’s.

There are so many problems with this girl’s story I don’t even know where to begin … but I’ll start here:

The lawsuit alleges that the 23-year-old Triplett drove to a Starbucks on Kingston Pike on July 13 and bought coffee via the store’s drive-through window. The lawsuit is silent on what Triplett ordered.

Whatever she ordered, she knew right away it was hot, the lawsuit states.

“She experienced extreme heat radiating through the cup and protective cardboard sleeve,” Isaacs wrote. “(She) balanced the extremely hot cup of coffee on her thigh with her hand on top of the cup as she pulled away from the window and negotiated a turn onto the roadway.”

Once on Kingston Pike, Triplett noticed “the lid of the coffee container was loose and not affixed properly,” the lawsuit states.

“Before Triplett could achieve a better grasp upon the cup, the lid dislodged from the cup, thereby causing scalding coffee to spill and splash onto (her) lap, right thigh and right hand,” the lawsuit states.

OK … so she says that right away she knows it’s extremely hot, but then she BALANCES THE F-ING CUP ON HER LEG and DRIVES ONTO A HIGHWAY?? They don’t make parking lots in Tennessee? It would have delayed you so much to put it in park and get that worked out before you head down the road?

I’m a klutz of the highest order, so I can understand the pain of this happening. I spill stuff all the time. I take drinks of hot stuff that are too big. I run into walls. I break things. It’s all part of being a bull in a china shop. I’ve never once thought, “Who can I sue for this?”

Gah. Well, I mean, I’ll give her credit. It’s much less offensive than the idiot in West Virginia who was allergic to cheese going to McDonald’s and then filing a $10 million suit over there being cheese on the burger. (After, of course, he took a huge bite of it in the dark without looking at it first.)

I think what’s going to happen is eventually we’re all going to be forced to wear protective suits and helmets. You laugh, but it’s coming. Living is very hazardous to your health, apparently.